


Pine For Summer

by snowstormjonerys



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-11
Updated: 2014-09-11
Packaged: 2018-02-17 00:12:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2289848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snowstormjonerys/pseuds/snowstormjonerys
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Bborgman gave me this prompt: Daryl and Beth reach Alexandria, only their feelings for one another have been in the air since they reunited all because Daryl has been too stubborn to face it. When Daryl sees someone at the new camp making advances on Beth, Daryl flies off the handle and Beth calls him out just like she always does. Daryl is forced to face his feelings for Beth once and for all. Rated T. Thanks girl for trusting me to write this prompt. You are the BEST and I hope it came out close to what you were asking for.</p></blockquote>





	Pine For Summer

Pine for summer

 

You don't want to be my boyfriend

And I don't want to be your girl.

And that, that's a relief

We'll Drink up our grief and pine for summer

And we'll buy a beer to shot gun

And we'll lay in the lawn

And we'll be good

Beth walked up to the table that they had been assigned to once they had finally accessed and reached Alexandria, the only known safe zone in the entire united states. She waited in the short line under the sign marked G-L to register her name in the zone's census. They were trying to establish and maintain an accurate representation of the people now occupying the walls of the city. Maggie and Glenn were waiting under their sign and Rick, Carl and Judy had finally made it through their long registration process and were now standing to the side waiting for the rest of their family to be through with processing and registration.

Beth glanced over to the sign marked A-F where Daryl was waiting, quite impatiently she might add, for his turn to give his details to the clerk. He had moved his thumb up to his mouth, absenting chewing on it. He was always doing that when he didn't have access to a pack of smokes. She had teased him about it yesterday though and he had nearly bit her head off. He was so back and forth since they had finally found each other again. She had been trying to escape from the Atlanta Peacekeepers Society, APS, and he and Carol had been out looking for her.

When she had first seen them, she had hardly believed what her brain was trying so hard to process. She had spent weeks trying to figure out a way back to them, back to him. The conversation in the funeral home was the final piece of the puzzle for Beth. He had been acting differently ever since the shack where she'd had her first drink. That day and night had been a series of firsts for her. She had finally stood up to the brooding and angry Daryl Dixon. She had had her first real breakthrough since they had lost their family. She had never been as angry at anyone as she was that day when Daryl dragged her out of that shack by her wrist. He hadn't hurt her, but him yanking her about and taking his time to kill the walker had incited a fury in her like none she had ever experienced. She had been angry and she had called him out on all his bullshit. Another first for her that night was getting Daryl to open up to her. He had poured out his soul and as he stood there crying, his back turned from her, she had never felt as low or helpless in her entire life except for maybe when she had to stand by and watch as her father was brutally murdered.

But seeing Daryl standing there, so defeated and broken down had been like a shot to her heart. She had hugged him and tried to absorb as much of his pain as possible because it was too heartbreaking to let him carry it all on his own.

Another first for Beth was burning down a house where she had helped Daryl burn down the demons of his past, the flames licking at the memories of his broken childhood. She could trace it all back to that one moment. They had walked away from the fire, somehow irrevocably changed by what had occurred there. It had felt like a fresh start and for the first time since they had left the prison, Beth started to feel hope again.

But since she had been back with the group, Daryl had been hot one moment and cold the next. He had told her he missed her and she had tried to draw him out on everything that had happened. It was so much harder for them now that they were back with everyone. Sometimes she pined for their time they had alone together, replaying all the scenarios until her head hurt. She didn't want to spend all her life pining for that time they spent together last summer.

She had tried to tell him how much she had missed him too and she wanted to talk about things. About things between them. They were either always interrupted or he would tell her that they were wrong to try to do anything about it. The last they had spoken of it had been last night. She had told him that she cared about him and that she wanted to see him happy.

"You wanna make me happy, just leave me be", he had almost spat the words at her and she tried to pretend like the words hadn't stung her worse than if he'd slapped her. Not that Daryl ever would, but sometimes Beth thought Daryl's words could leave the darkest marks.

Right now, his words from last night still left a mark on her heart, bruised, but she hid it well.

It was finally her turn at the table. "Hello, welcome to Alexandria. Can I have your name?" The guy at the table seemed to be about her own age. He looked so normal that Beth was a little apprehensive to talk to him. She had thought the people with the peacekeepers when she met them but the longer that she was there, the more she saw how warped their views on a new order society really were.

He stared at her so long, she finally felt obliged to speak. "Elizabeth Greene". She had decided she would drop her middle name. It was so long otherwise, Elizabeth Madeline Greene was a mouthful. She actually wished she had told the guy that her name was just Beth Greene. Simple times for a simpler society.

The guy was staring at her again and self-consciously tucked a strand of her long blonde hair behind her ear. "Did you need something else 'sides my name?" she asked him, a little nervous at the way he was looking at her.

He smiled at her then and she noticed that his eyes were friendly. "Well, is it Elizabeth then?" He said and Beth realized that he was flirting with her.

She smiled back at him, glancing to the left noting that Daryl was watching her. Well, let him watch, she thought. It wasn't like he was being cooperative exactly. She looked back at the guy. "No, it's just Beth," She said. She was only being friendly. She knew how to flirt and she was careful not to draw anything like that into her demeanor.

The guy extended his hand. "Well I'm Jonathan," he said and she smiled back at him as she shook his hand.

"Just Beth, you're very pretty." He said boldly, still grasping her hand, not forcefully really but he wasn't showing any signs of letting it go.

"Well thank you, I um," she said and she flushed then, knowing Daryl was watching her and knowing too that she really didn't want this attention. "I better go," she said, awkwardly trying to withdraw her hand and finally the guy with an exasperated look he it go reluctantly just before Daryl was right on them and in his face.

"Listen here pretty boy, she don't want your hands on her," Daryl was leaning all the way over the table and right in the guy's face before Beth could even think to blink.

"Daryl," she warned from behind him but he showed no signs of moving.

"Sorry, sir I didn't mean any harm," Beth almost felt sorry for the guy but he really had made her feel pretty uncomfortable.

"Yeah, well ya did. Ya best tell her yer sorry," He bellowed and Beth had had it by then.

"Daryl!" she yelled and everyone stopped to look to see what the commotion was all about.

Daryl whipped around and faced her and he looked pissed as she'd ever seen him, but he was always like that when he was angry. "What, Beth, you gonna tell me you wanted him hittin' on ya like that?" He said and it made her so angry she saw red.

"So what if it did? What would you care?" She spit back at him.

Daryl sputtered and if she wasn't so angry she might have laughed so she continued on instead. "You don't get it do you" her voice wasn't loud but it was firm. "It was just me and you all those weeks. You remember." It was a statement.

"We got separated. Separated, Daryl. And we found each other again. In this suck-ass world, I think it's pretty damn amazin' and if you can't see it, well then you're not the man I thought you were," She finally finished and turned back to the guy. "I'm sorry, I'm going to need a minute. I'll be back." She turned on her heel and stalked off to the grove of trees so no one could see just how angry she was. The tears were coming faster and faster as she finally reached the tree line and slipped into the woods, needing some time to clear her head.

"Beth," she heard him right behind her as she was hiccupping, trying to stop the flow of tears and tamp down the emotions that were threatening to overwhelm her right now. They had finally reached the safe zone and all she wanted in the world was to be with the man she loved. Only he was too stupid to realize that what they had was something really special.

She turned to face him and she knew she was a mess, her face lined with snot and probably dirt mixing in too. He reached into his pocket and got the bandana he often carried back there and wordlessly handed to her. In their time on their own, he had done it often. And just as often as he'd handed her that bandana, he'd take her in his arms and let her cry it out. Only now, she didn't feel comfortable stepping into his embrace and he didn't offer. She mopped at her face with the fabric, wishing she could disappear behind it forever. Ridiculous thought in this moment, but it's how scrambled her thoughts actually felt.

"''M sorry, okay," His voice was low and if it weren't for the fact that they were in the woods away from everyone, she probably wouldn't have heard him.

"For which part," she looked at him then, sniffing back tears. "Just today or everythin'".

""M sorry for everythin', Beth. 'M sorry I acted like that back there and sorry I haven't told you everythin'. I should have. I know it now. If I tell you, will you promise to think 'bout forgivin' me?" He asked her and she looked at him, nodding and thinking that whatever he was going to say was going to change everything. She hoped it was for the better because she didn't know how much more her heart could take.

He placed his hand gently on her shoulder and guided her over to a fallen log and they both sat down. The first signs of spring were making themselves known and the earth here smelled fresh and damp.

"I lied. Leavin' me alone ain't gonna be the thing that makes me happy." He said and looked at her. Her ankles were crossed in front of her and she had her hands braced on the log on either side of her and she was watching him intently.

"It's not?" She sniffed again, wishing for once she could get a reign on the stupid female hormones that controlled her life so much of the time.

Daryl shook his head and reached out to brush a tear away from her eyes with his thumb. "The only thing that's gonna make me happy is to be with you. Hearin' you say it back there. I don't know why I've been so stupid. I told you back at that shack that I wasn't afraid of nothin'." He said and Beth felt like this was it, this was the turning point.

She nodded, she remembered it all too well, his face had been mere inches away from hers. "I remember."

"I lied then too. I am afraid. I'm afraid of this. I'm afraid of us. And more than anythin', I'm afraid of losin' you again." He looked at her and Beth started crying again. It was everything she had wanted him to say. It was more than she had ever expected him to.

"So what are you sayin' then?" she said, her breath merely a whisper at this point, half afraid that he was going to change his mind or vanish into thin air. "Are you sayin' that you'll give this a chance? Give us a chance?"

He nodded. "I'm sayin' that if you'll have me, it's the only thing I want. It's all I'll ever want." She saw him struggling but she had to hear it so she just listened. "You, Beth, you're all I will ever want. I'm sorry it took me so long to say this to ya. I love ya, Beth." He said and looked at her uncertainly and she didn't see Daryl, the man, sitting before her, she saw the boy who had been rejected, the boy who had been beaten, the boy who had grown up in a world too harsh and been thrust into one too cruel for human-kind.

"I love you too," those were the only words that were needed. Those three words said it all. They said that you wanted to be together. That you'd stick together until the end. That nothing would stand in the way of that love. In this world it said so much more than it did in their old one.

She thought then of all the firsts she had shared with this crazy beautiful man and she wanted to share them all with him. There was one that he could make happen in the here and now but if she waited on him to make the first move, she knew it'd take far too long for her liking. She knew from experience, after all.

She'd had kisses before, but none of them had felt real. She wanted her first real kiss and all the ones that followed to be with him and him only.

"Kiss me Daryl," she said bravely and she waited for it. Waited for him to bolt and run but he didn't. Instead he faced her and squared his shoulders and then did the same to hers. It was all really cute how awkwardly he did it.

He placed his hands on her shoulders and he leaned forward and she met him half way, their lips meeting hesitantly, tenderly, until Beth sighed and her lips parted involuntarily and he slipped his tongue inside her mouth, tangling with hers and suddenly, all tenderness was gone as he removed his hands from her shoulders, sliding them through her hair and gripping her head and pulling her towards him, angling his head for better access to her mouth. He finally slowed the kiss down, the pace diminishing until it was just soft sweet mere brushes of their lips together. Beth's heart had long since stopped beating she figured and just hovered in her chest waiting to restart and her face was flushed, eyes feeling heavy and she felt the unmistakable signs of arousal. She wanted him. She knew there was another first she wanted to share with him but not here. Not in this place and probably not even tonight. She'd have to take baby steps with him; knew it without a shadow of a doubt. But she also knew that she was a Greene. She'd eventually get her way.

They pulled apart finally and he took the hand closest to her and laced their fingers together, bringing her hand up to his lips, placing a soft kiss to the back of her hand. He rested their hands in his lap.

"It's too quiet," she said and they both started laughing. When their laughter already died down, they looked at one another.

"That was the best kiss I've ever had," she said and she meant it.

She grinned as she saw him blushing under her complement. "It's a complement Daryl."

He looked at her for a long moment, his eyes meeting hers and she saw it all. Everything that he felt. "I didn't know if I was doing it right but I've been wanting to do that forever." He admitted finally.

"How long?" This was news and she couldn't wait to see at what point he'd become attracted to her enough to want that.

"I figure it was when you told me we should burn that shithole house down." He said. She looked at him, completely surprised, but secretly pleased because in her moonshine haze she had wanted the same thing.

"I was too chicken to do it. And look it too you askin' me for me to be able ta." He looked at her shyly then.

"So you're sayin' if I want somethin' from this relationship, all I gotta do is ask ya? And you'll go along with it?" She asked him, smiling at him coyly. "That's an awful lot of power in one relationship don'tcha think?" She was teasing him and she loved it because he was letting her.

He grinned and nodded at her and then his eyes went dark again. "I can handle it," He said and flashed her a confident smirk, the first that she'd seen in him and she raised her eyebrows. So this was a relationship then and he had just admitted it. It emboldened her to broach the next subject with him.

"Okay then, that kiss was my first real kiss," She said looking at him, almost daring him to challenge her. His eyes were wide and she nodded. "Zach and Jimmy….those weren't real kisses. This with you was a first. And there's another first I want to do with you." She stared at him pointedly, not breaking eye contact because she needed him to know exactly what it was she wanted.

Daryl looked at her sharply and his eyes had suddenly transformed, deep sapphire pools of lust, the blue nearly faded out by the black. Maybe she wouldn't have to push as hard as she thought on that subject, she thought and her eyes went wide and her mouth went dry all at the same time.

"Are you askin'?" Daryl said smirking at her.

She nodded unable to speak and he leaned back in and kissed her again, this time more passionate, deeper and hotter than the last time, tongues tangling, lips nipping and sucking, until her legs were wobbly and her breath was coming in fast heavy pants. He pulled away, looking very pleased with himself.

"Does that answer your question?" He asked, an extremely smug look on his face.

Beth just nodded and leaned back in to kiss him again. It was all the answer she needed.

**Author's Note:**

> Bborgman gave me this prompt: Daryl and Beth reach Alexandria, only their feelings for one another have been in the air since they reunited all because Daryl has been too stubborn to face it. When Daryl sees someone at the new camp making advances on Beth, Daryl flies off the handle and Beth calls him out just like she always does. Daryl is forced to face his feelings for Beth once and for all. Rated T. Thanks girl for trusting me to write this prompt. You are the BEST and I hope it came out close to what you were asking for.


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